Follow the author of this article

Follow the topics within this article

The Chancellor suffered a double blow on Tuesday after official figures showed public borrowing was higher than expected in April, while the previous year's deficit was also larger than first thought.

Public sector net borrowing, excluding public sector banks, stood at £7.2bn in April.

While this was £0.3bn lower than the deficit in April 2015, it was well above economists' estimates of a fall to £6.4bn, despite the data showing a rise in income tax, stamp duty, national insurance and VAT receipts.

Alan Clarke, an economist at Scotiabank, described the figures as a "disappointing start to the year" as the Government attempts to reduce its borrowing bill to £55.5bn in 2016-17.